The best restaurants in Sydney right now

Start with an Oyster Shell Martini, stirred tableside. That’s the best way to begin Josh Niland’s journey beneath the waves at his endlessly innovative fish restaurant, now housed inside Paddington’s Grand National Hotel. Next, you’re likely to follow a fish through many guises – yellowfin tuna, say, served as tartare on a fermented rice cake, then wrapped in pastry as a Wellington, then as a petit four of bone marrow fudge – each showcasing the secondary cuts that are the backbone of Niland’s renowned scale-to-tail craft. Saint Peter is in peak form.

“At Saint Peter’s new home inside the Grand National Hotel, Josh Niland’s groundbreaking approach to seafood reaches dazzling new heights. Known for his whole fish approach to cooking, the results are both art and innovation… this is Niland’s vision fully realised — and easily one of the most unforgettable dining experiences in Australia and the world.”

GT tip: Drop into the Saint Peter Bar for a more casual dining experience of tuna and swordfish belly bacon cheeseburgers and curried cod pies. Or go the other end of the spectrum and book in for a night at the upstairs hotel.

Paul Farag’s Martin Place diner is Sydney’s north star when it comes to polished Middle Eastern and North African cuisine. From the mezze section, don’t miss ful medames – a classic Egyptian bean stew – intensified with bone marrow and black walnuts, best scooped up with golden Khorasan pita. Otherwise, go for the Moreton Bay bug chopped through rich chicken-fat orzo and dotted with trout roe.

GT tip: Don’t be shy on the ordering; happily there’s no judgment here when it comes to boxing up leftovers.

This cool, timber-lined rice wine and record bar on a busy Newtown strip has plenty of polish, but it’s the grittier edges that make things interesting. There’s soul on the turntables and funk in the food. The service is warm, the vibe is cool, and there’s no better place to match small producer sakes with big-flavoured dishes.

GT tip:  Ante is walk-in only, so put your name down on the list and go for a drink nearby. The wait is worth it.

This latest spot in Darlinghurst behaves like a café/bakery during the day, then morphs into a low-lit, high-vibes restaurant at night. The evening menu makes heavy use of the day’s crumbs and crusts in the best possible way, especially in an anchovy and zucchini spaghetti – the textured strands literally made from leftover bread – which puts in a strong bid for being one of the most memorable pastas in the city.

GT tip: If you’re visiting during breakfast service, you can’t go past the drowned eggs in chicken broth served with crusty baguette.

The warehouse restaurant – a cartwheel of cultures and flavours – captures the vibrancy of Western Sydney with heart, nostalgia and respect. It all evokes the image of a classic suburban home, yet the restaurant’s ambition is bold, never modest. No wonder the signature taramasalata with praline, pickles and shokupan toast has become one of the city’s iconic dishes.

Bathers’ Pavilion ticks every box: breezy, blond-and-blue furnishings, service that’s professional but never stuffy, approachable dishes that make the most of the country’s best produce and, of course, a knockout beach view.

To step inside this hot-right-now wine bar and restaurant (Bessie’s is the diner, Alma’s is the bar) from the team behind nearby hit Bar Copains, is to be struck by the inescapable need to eat whatever’s cooking, immediately. The plates are small and the tables aren’t much bigger, but the vibe is huge. It’s the quintessential Surry Hills (and possibly even Sydney in its entirety) restaurant of the moment.

Trust us… The moment you take a seat at Cafe Paci, order the wickedly fragrant XO trout potato dumplings. You won’t be disappointed. Where the adventure takes you next will depend on the day and what’s in season, but Finnish-born chef-owner Pasi Petänen’s quest for original ideas and bold flavours is a constant in this haven of cool escapism in a discreet position on loud, vibey King Street.

GT tip: Double down on carrots. Start savoury, via the fermented carrots with ‘nduja on rye, and don’t miss their dessert incarnation: carrot sorbet with yoghurt and licorice.

Corner 75, a place of precious memories for Sydney’s Hungarian-Australians, has sat behind a frill of lace curtains for more than 40 years. In 2025, the paprika-red walls welcomed new owners: Alexander Kelly and Jean-Paul El Tom from Marrickville’s Baba’s Place, and Sixpenny’s Daniel Puskas, who realised a chance to explore his own Hungarian heritage. Together they brought new energy – and a light-as-a-cloud schnitzel – to this beloved neighbourhood gathering place. The legacy lives on.

GT tip: Order fried puffs of lángos bread with caraway seeds and house-made sour cream to start.

What a splendid room this is, complete with a baby grand piano and metallic magenta columns befitting any big celebration. The former site of the Barrack Street bank is backed by clever cooking and wine curation from dynamic duo Brent Savage and Nick Hildebrandt. The brief is upscale Manhattan grill meets smart Euro bistro, where drinks are no afterthought thanks to Hildebrandt’s 1000-bottle wine cellar.

GT tip: Kick things into gear with an order of the restaurant’s own-label rum, fragrant with gentian and sandalwood.

Sit at the bar in this intriguing inner west diner and you might feel like you’re watching a private show between you and a flaming grill. The skewers – or “pops”, as they’re called here – keep coming, from savoury, smoky, chilli-cumin lamb to cubes of wagyu so marbled it’s like eating butter. Sit upstairs and the velvet carpets and candles make it more the sort of place you’d go on a date. Both ways of experiencing Firepop feel like riding a new wave of Australian dining.

GT tip: Don’t overlook the set menus; they’re generally half the price of some of the city’s big names.

Junda Khoo’s Malaysian playground is dining dynamite. Who wouldn’t delight in silky “laksa bombs” – fat chicken and prawn dumplings infused and drenched with creamy soup? Or tender, sticky-sweet roast duck, dry-aged for 10 days and served with optional foie gras and delicate pancakes? The drinks list is equally eclectic, with more than 100 bottles of wine and by-the-glass drops, vibrant house cocktails and classic beers. Add an elevated open-plan hawker-style room and well-versed staff and you can see why this Town Hall haunt is still red hot after five years.

The much-photographed fish finger bao – an irresistible two-bite marvel with silky steamed bun, American cheese and salmon roe – is still in everyone’s Instagram feed, but the rest of the menu at King Clarence is equally captivating. A year on from winning GT’s Best New Restaurant award, the Bentley Group’s neon-tinged hotspot burns as brightly as ever. The spice-driven, share-friendly plates are complemented by inventive fruit- and tea-forward cocktails and a lively wine list.

GT tip: Save room for dessert. The gooey fried peanut butter ice-cream drizzled with salted hojicha green tea caramel is a must.

Chef and restaurateur Neil Perry’s electric A-list favourite is a temple of top-tier produce, where the steaks would steal the show if only everything else wasn’t equally on point. Sourced from the country’s most storied producers, the sprawling, seasonally driven menu celebrates exceptional local ingredients, prepared with pared-back confidence, precise grilling skills, and a little pan-Asian pixie dust that’s become synonymous with Mr Perry.

The huge, 50-year-old bougainvillea tree at the centre of this indoor-outdoor dining room has seen a lot of action in its time. Most recently, it’s witnessed the 200-seat modern Greek blockbuster in the Wunderlich Lane precinct packed for almost every service since opening in late 2024. Olympus feels very Sydney, very now, and it’s only getting harder to land a table.

“Anyone who has set foot in the 200-seat room that is Olympus Dining in Sydney will quickly recognise what a behemoth it is. Taking on a restaurant of that size would be challenging for any chef, let alone one stepping into their first Head Chef role. But Ozge Kalvo rose to the challenge immediately, serving elegant Greek cooking that has captivated Sydney diners.”

A tiramisù prepared tableside surely needs time to develop its flavours? Not if that tiramisù is created by the expert hand of Giovanni Pilu, who knows exactly how to coax maximum impact from house-made savoiardi biscuits, mirto bianco liqueur and generous waves of mascarpone in front of diners’ eyes. It’s a masterful way to end a meal at this beachfront icon, which draws on the culinary traditions of Pilu’s birthplace, Sardinia, in every dish.

Porcine has always been about fun times with wine and swine. Chef Nik Hill’s masterful dishes mean having a memorable meal is easier than ever. Mainstays, such as the creton with lentils or an aged pork chop with choucroute and juniper, remain sublime. Porcine is enthusiastic about classic cooking, whole-carcass butchery and congenial service.

“Nik Hill brings precision, imagination and deep technique to every plate. At Porcine, his French-inspired bistro-pub in Sydney’s Paddington, Hill blends the richness of classic French cooking with a modern, playful edge… drawing on everything from Nouvelle Cuisine to Quebecois flavours.”

GT tip: Arrive early to have a drink at courtyard bar L’Avant Cave – the new collaboration between P&V and Porcine teams.

Chef Narin “Jack” Kulasai may have trained under Australian Thai food master David Thompson and Quay’s Peter Gilmore, but everything at Porkfat is completely his own. While the room can be loud, the flavours in every dish shout even louder. Spice underpins, but never overwhelms, the whole repertoire.

GT tip: BYO wine and you have a foolproof formula for an audaciously fun night out.

Sometimes a restaurant simply feels right. Despite being barely a year old, Postino Osteria – part of Alessandro Pavoni’s Italian empire, which includes Ormeggio at The Spit and a’Mare – is one of those restaurants. It’s due to the warmth of the service. It’s also the sincerity of the dishes, many of which draw from the team’s childhood memories.

There’s the Sydney Opera House. The Sydney Harbour Bridge. And there is Quay, Sydney’s watershed harbourfront restaurant, woven as tightly into the city’s fabric as the two great landmarks it sits between. For the most part, it remains immutable: a multi-course menu of uncommon textures, shapes and tastes, such as wild greenlip abalone that ripples in a lake of vinegared seaweed broth, or the most yielding oblong of Blackmore wagyu, frilled with maitake mushrooms and paired with a choice of wines that range from the excellent to the extraordinary. Here, consistency is Quay.

GT tip: Quay has introduced a dessert-only booking, giving the restaurant a new energy and, importantly, accessibility.

This latest venture from father-son omakase duo Raita and Momotaro Noda is designed to energise multiple senses at once. Just 12 guests are seated along a bar in a stormcloud-grey space to eat a 10-course meal prepared in exacting detail in front of your eyes. Sydney’s fascination with theatrical Japanese dining isn’t going anywhere, and this low-key, high-flavour concept is a top example of the genre.

Sixpenny is now a teenager – just as experimental but with none of the attitude. Chef-owner Daniel Puskas has spent 13 years shaping an innocuous terrace in sleepy Stanmore into one of Australia’s most serene fine-diners, with head chef Tony Schifilliti adding the funk and ferment. Ageing is everywhere, from rice pancakes to nashi pear scales that seal cured silver trevally. Many of the staff here count their tenure in years, not months, because they also know good things take time.